Discover how you can authentically grow your brand, welcome new clients and generate income on social media

If you’ve got an Instagram account, you’re going to love this episode..

As health practitioners, we're always looking at ways to connect with our audiences in a meaningful way.

Join Kiki as she sits down with Vitina and Lesley from Align Creative Minds, a fantastic boutique brand consultancy. Here are two passionate brand designers who want to help you to grow your wellness brand authentically and meaningfully on social media and gain new clients and confidence in the process.

Before we jump in, let’s clarify what a brand is

It’s not just your logo; that’s just one piece of the puzzle. A brand is an image that is formed in the mind, and a feeling that resides in the heart of everyone who comes into contact with it. And that’s a poetic way of saying your brand is a reputation your business has in the hearts and minds of your clients.

— Align Creative Minds, Brand Consultants

For Vitina and Lesley, unfortunately, a lot of the time, they speak to entrepreneurs that think branding your business is inauthentic. However, it's one of the most authentic things you can do for yourself in your business to attract the right clients that you're actually meant to serve.

Vitina and Lesley have coined the phrase 'the internal brand'; - the inner heart and soul of your brand and your business.

It's your purpose, mission, and values, the things that get you up in the morning and make you excited to start the day and work with your clients.

By showing these parts of your business in your brand, you will connect with the people you want to be working with who share your values. Being authentically you, with your solutions, sets you apart from others in the nutrition and wellness space.

Being authentically you, with your solutions, sets you apart from others in the nutrition and wellness space.

Once you have this foundation set, you can create a proper external brand; you can manifest something that is actually aligned with these core pieces of your business. Your external brand is how you radiate your internal brand to others.

By using what you know about yourself, you can create that external visual brand - your logo, colors, message, and visuals that you should be using across all of your platforms (website, social media) to build consistency and recognition.

"This is something everyone should do whether you are a personal brand (using your name) or you have a business name; the same process applies."

But it's not just the visuals; it's your voice and what you're saying. Vitina and Lesley's advice, consistency is critical. You might want to be motivational, educational, or inspirational; there is no right or wrong way to do it.  

When you listen to the podcast, it's refreshing to hear their thoughts on this, and if you're worried about this or your tone of voice, you should tune into this episode!

The question everyone is waiting for...how to grow your following on social media

As entrepreneurs, we can get intimidated by social media and get caught up in needing 10s of 1000s of followers to run a successful business account. And lucky for everyone, the truth is that you only need about 1000 loyal fans or followers to run a successful business.

You need to start and in a way that's authentic to you. So to stand out and to establish your brand, you're going to want to apply both your internal brand and your external brand. Apply your inner brand to your content. Consider your values, what you offer, and how you can support your ideal client and what they're going through in different content buckets so that it's relevant to their journey.

Use those fonts, photography, style, and colors, basically, your external brand consistently, to bring this to life. It's more about creating very on-brand visuals that support the story that you're trying to tell.

5 tips to grow your following on Instagram organically

#1 Get to know your ideal client avatar

Think about who it is you want to attract, and who it is you serve through your business, and really think about what they're going through and what their pain points or desires are, and how you can help. Tell them how your unique skills can support them.

#2 Create valuable content for them

Emotive, inspiring, informational content is key. BUT make sure it's aligned with your actual brand and relevant to you and your ideal client. Ask yourself, how can I delight my audience? How can I best serve them? What do they need from me?

The goal is to leave people better than you found them. And doing this is going to help build a ton of trust with your audience and position you as the expert in your field. Plus, it gives them a taste of what it might be like to work with you.

#3 Have a clear bio

This is the first thing they see on your page. Capture their attention, tell them what you can do, who you do it for, what they can expect from you, and a clear call to action to tell them what to do next - go to your website, download your freebie, listen to your latest podcast.

#4 Be consistent and use your branding

You don't have to post daily but consistently so that you frequently show up for your potential clients and offer value. Plan for what you have time for but a good rule of thumb is at least 3 times a week.

Establish your brand aesthetic tone and message across your channel. You can even check out Vitina and Lesley's free tutorials on how to get you clear on your fonts, your color palette, and what to post on your social media in terms of a content calendar and get your hands on some great free templates.

#5 Engage, engage, engage

Instagram is a social platform, meaning you do need to be social. Try putting 15 minutes a day in your calendar, to engage with your community. Comment back and reply to all your messages.  For the people engaging the most with your account, go to their Instagram account, like a few photos and leave a genuine comment for them.

The goal is to leave people better than you found them. And doing this is going to help build a ton of trust with your audience and position you as the expert in your field. Plus, it gives them a taste of what it might be like to work with you.

Go on a hunt to find your ideal client. Think of accounts that kind of do something similar to you, or where you think that your ideal client would be hanging out, go to those accounts and genuinely engage.

We all know that this works as when people comment on our pictures, and we don't know them, what do we do? We go to their bio to find out more and the cycle begins. You never know which ideal client will discover you next.

The Align Creative Minds Giveaway

Lovely Vitina and Lesley are offering listeners to the podcast a free six-day brand boot camp so head over to the podcast take a listen and look at the show notes to grab it now.

If you want to connect with Vitina and Lesley find them on Youtube at Brand Therapy Sessions where they have so many helpful tutorials. Or why not connect on Instagram or visit their website. Feel free to say hi and ask any questions you may have.

As always, enjoy the episode.

Speaking of Improving your branding…

Did you know you can share images and recipes from your Meal Garden account with your followers?

Easy, delicious, and beautiful recipes are a sure-fire way to get your followers engaged and to grow a successful online business,

Why not combine a 30-day trial +a two month discount with your brand-building efforts?

Click below for an offer only available here.

START BUILDING YOUR BRAND WITH MEAL GARDEN

‍